An Encounter in Veluca
by Canadian Guy
Summary: A chance encounter in the Shining Duck Inn in Veluca between a girl running away from home and a dashing Vaegir captain! To be continued...
1. Chapter 1

The torches on the stone walls of the tavern of Veluca: "The Shining Duck" glistened as darkness started to fall on the great merchant city. There were but a few people in the tavern left, Avern the ransom broker and Julion the traveller were locked in silent whispered conversation on the far table. A group of rough and ready men dressed in haubergeons had taken off their helmets and started drinking, waiting for employment, any employment. The empire of Calradia had fallen long ago and now all around was war.

The bartender Torba, originally from Bariye in the far south, but moving to Veluca for a better life, quietly shuffles the mugs of beer behind the counter: as a Sarrinid, he prefers wine, but people in the Kingdom of Rhodoks prefer beer so he sells that. He jingles some denars on the counter out of boredom, then notices Ymira with her head resting on the table on the right. He knows her, she is the daughter of that merchant… what was his name again? Torba forgot. But Ymira looked tired and a bit distraught, with streaks of tears down her red face. What had happened? Why is she in the shining duck? She is a respectable daughter, she doesn't come to places like this! While still jiggling his denars, the door opens downstairs. Everyone falls silent, as those footsteps on the stairs sound like the men are armoured, which means they are knights or fighters. The men in haubergeons in the corner, who had been drinking toasts earlier out of their helmets, suddenly stood to attention and put their helmets back on. The footsteps get louder until a handsome young man in a fine suit of Vaegir elite armour and a nobleman's helmet walks to the counter, speaking in impeccable Swadian: "Bartender, I shall pay 1000 denars for everybody in Veluca to enjoy the generosity of Alayen the Vaegir tonight!" "…Ja?" asked Torba in response. "Ja, naturlich. Verstanten? Hier ist 1000 denars. Schnell! Gibt mir ein Bier!"

Everyone left in the shining duck hooted their approval in Rhodok. Alayen squinted, as he felt rhodok dialect is a bastardization of Swadian, but took in their cheers gratefully. One of the men in haubergeons approached him and said, in halting Vaegir: " chest I'slava, Boyar! My khotim , chtoby sluzhit' vam…" "Yes, yes, how much do you cost?" "Well, sire, we cost 1800 denars" "Done. Come with me. We have work to do." "Where shall we march, Boyar?" "I am not a Boyar! Anyway I am leading a mercenary company, perhaps I shall join King Graveth in his war against the Sarrinids! We shall march to Jamische castle at first light!" Alayen looked back, and there was this pretty girl on the table, in a pink merchant dress looking sad. Puzzled, he walked over and lifted her face up. She immediately grabbed his hand and slammed it on the table, glaring at his eyes.

Alayen was shocked, but as an aristocrat with good education he simply chuckled it off. "Well, we have a saucy one here! Why are you so upset?" The girl ignored him and continued burying her head in her arms on the table. Torbas came running over and in a Sarrinid accent of the Rhodok dialect which made Alayen cringe, said "Sie ist Ymira. Sie kommen… aus… ein… kaufmannsfamilie…" "Be quiet Torbas! I am not a little toy!" She shouted. "I came here because my father wants me to marry a man who is older than even him! It is disgusting! So I ran away from home. I just need a place to rest, Torbas, if you don't mind." Intrigued, Alayen took a closer look at her. She had long disheveled blond hair and smooth white skin: She was quite pretty for a merchant girl. He asked her "well, are you going to brood here forever or do you want to go and do something?" She ignored him. "Very well, sorry for the trouble" and then Alayen turned to go back downstairs when the door opened again.

"Ah, Captain Lezalit, what is it?" "My Lord Alayen, the soldiers are getting a little restless outside. I am still drilling them on the town square, trying to drill them into shape, but they cannot even stay in a proper formation! I suggest you hire Rhodok men: they are more willing to take orders! Your Vaegirs are filthy pigs! Fierce fighters and excellent with their bows, but they MUST listen to MY authority, henceforth…" "Alright, Captain Lezalit, enough. The town of Veluca will not hinder us in our plans now, I've hired some extra blades for our company, and some fine beer too…" "And not a moment too soon! Anyways shall we march?" "No, stay the night first." Alayen and Lezalit exited the tavern onto the deserted streets. " Here are some denars for the inn. I will instruct the men to be disciplined in the inn and not cause any trouble. And why is your hauberk rusty anyway? I thought you were a military trainer?" "Yes, my lord, I am sorry about the hauberk, it is difficult to…" "Yes, I heard you. Just do what I said." "Yes, Lord Alayen, as a military man, I am used to following orders, unlike these Vaegir…" "Shut up already and just do what I say!"

Lezalit saluted Alayen by bumping his hand on his chest and turning on his heels to shout at the soldiers. Suddenly the tavern door opened again: It was the girl! She went straight to Alayen and said "Hey, do you mind if I join your army? Anything's better than just staying here… I have read books about healing and medicine and I can manage household servants extremely well!... And, I have a knife, look!" Alayen couldn't help but laugh. "Household servants?" She looked a bit disheleved in her pink dress, but then again a girl who could dress wounds and was as cute as her was probably worth having around. "Very well, you may join. We can teach you…. Combat skills later…" "Combat? How exciting! I used to do mock swordfights with my boy cousins, you know, I was very good at it! And…" "Wooden swords are nothing like iron swords, lady." Alayen said with a wink, and off they went to look for Lezalit and his group of rowdy Vaegirs…


	2. Chapter 2: An eventful day

"Out for a stroll are we?"

"We're not afraid of you, scum! We shall fight!"

Captain Lezalit draws his short sword and strikes a martial pose. On foot, in his rusty hauberk, battered segmented helmet, cracked kite shield and short sword, he cuts a "heroic" figure. Shouting in his high-pitched voice, he said:

"Soldiers of Vaegir! Deploy into Wedge formation!"

"glupo! pochemu my dolzhny eto delat'? ! (Stupid! Why do we have to do this?)

Alayen is astride his brown hunter. Swaybacked it may be, but it cost 2845 denars from those cheating merchants in Dhirim: They had splendid chargers but they cost a whopping 59,426 denars, which he could not afford. He took great pride in maintaining s splendid suit of Vaegir Elite Armor, complete with Nobleman's helmet, mail boots and gloves, long arming sword and knightly heraldic shield. For a ranged weapon he had looted a bag of bent javelins, which will have to do. As Lezalit gets visibly angry at the soldiers, Alayen just laughs, winks at the solitary Vaegir horseman, and shouts the Vaegir battle cry,

"UURRRRAAAAAA! Va Vaegirea, Va Slava, Va krov! (For Vaegir, for Glory, for blood!)"

and charges straight towards the enemy. The Vaegir horseman follows suit, as well as the entire band of 3 Vaegir Infantry, 5 Vaegir footmen 2 Vaegir Archers and 4 skirmishers. Even the archers and skirmishers are following Alayen into the attack!

"You…. Come back! We need to set up a formation, pin them with the archers, and then flank them….. WAIT!" Lezalit was left in a whirlwind of dust as the undisciplined, half barbaric men of Vaegir charged to meet the enemy. "Egads! This shall be a tactical disaster of monumental proportions! According to the Art of War by Alisenius the Great, he…"

Lezalit could already hear the cheers of Alayen's men as they stood over the bodies of the defeated looters.

"Ah, Net khoroshey veshchi ot grabitelya!" (Ah, nothing to loot from looters!) Exclaimed one of the archers in exasperation as he picks one of his own arrows out of a dead body.

"gryaznyy!" (Dirty!) complained a footman who was tasked to strip the dead bodies of all valuables. There was a pittance, a few rusty knives, a chipped falchion, but he managed to find a suit of nomad armor, so he took that back to Alayen.

"Khorosho" (good) said Alayen, who gestured for the new "nurse", Ymira, to come.

Ymira had joined this ragtag Vaegir band on a whim, at the Shining Duck in Veluca after running away from home. She wondered how much her parents worried about her, but she was having too much excitement to care!

"Ja, Alayen?"

"Call me Sir Alayen, not just by my name, understand? I am a noble of the house of…"

"Sure, man-on-a-swaybacked-horse. What do you want?"

"Sigh…. Anyway, one of my troops has found this. " Alayen ordered the footman to give Ymira the nomad armor. "Here, wear this."

Ymira took one look at it and laughed, as it was woolly, dirty, smelly and just plain "schmutzig" (dirty). "I'm not wearing this, ha ha!"

Alayen looked at her with a serious expression. Ymira stopped laughing.

"Das ist sehr wichtig, fraulein! (This is very important, lady!) It can be the difference between surviving an enemy arrow and being killed! It is not the best armor, granted, but it will have to do."

"But its so dirty and smelly, can't we at least wash it first?" Ymira scrunched up her pretty nose at the nomad armour, which was so pungent it was starting to attract flies.

"Just wear it will you, it is better than seeing you dead"

Ymira took one look at Alayen's serious yet gentle expression, sighed in exasperation and admiration, and wore the armor, hot and sticky as it was. It was, after all, "better than dying".

Suddenly there was a commotion from where the soldiers were standing.

"Du schwanz!" (You bastard) echoed around the valley, while a mailed glove put itself around the neck of a Vaegir skirmisher.

"Du schwanz, you pissed on my foot! How dare you insult me so! I shall kill you for that!" The Hired Blade drew his bastard sword and threatened the skirmisher, whose face was starting to turn purple.

"Sobaka!" (Dog!) shouted the Vaegir Horseman in response as he galloped in to save his comrade. He took out his two-handed battle-axe, nicked with the blood of many enemies.

"menya ubit' tebya!" (I'll kill you!) said the horseman as he put his axe right at the neck of the Hired Blade, but stopped short of killing him. Suddenly all the hired blades drew their swords and all the Vaegir soldiers drew their weapons. The Vaegir archers nocked their arrows on their nomad bows and aimed threateningly at the Hired Blades. They stood locked in a staring contest, eyes wild with rage, and insults in Swadian, Rhodok, Nord, Sarrinid and Vaegir filled the air. Curses involving mothers, terrifying gods, sisters, fathers, excrement, "sticks and twigs" and the size thereof, and other such pleasant topics were thrown left, right and center. Meanwhile, Rogert, the Hired blade who had tried to speak Vaegir to Alayen back in the Shining Duck tavern in Veluca, was trying to maintain calm using his rudimentary Vaegir.

"HALT! HALT! All soldiers HALT!" Shouted Lezalit at the top of his voice, but no one listened.

"HALT, or I shall give the entire company a beasting! And you all well know what a Lezalit beasting is!"

The soldiers stopped staring at each other and started at Lezalit instead. A few seconds later they averted their eyes from each other and slowly went back to their respective tents to recuperate and cool down. Every soldier hated Lezalit's guts, but despite his pompous exterior they all knew deep down just what cruelty Lezalit was capable of. It was calculated to cause the maximum suffering while still enabling a soldier to fight the next battle. Lezalit had learned the drill books well.

Just as the incident was about to die down and be forgotten, the Vaegir skirmisher who had been choked was still holding his neck, gasping for breath. The man who choked him chuckled and pointed at him. Suddenly the skirmisher flew into a rage and threw a punch at the Hired Blade, who ducked easily and smashed the skirmisher in the nose. A fistfight! Everyone suddenly came back to watch, when Lezalit, showing amazing strength, separated the two, and then bellowed at all soldiers present:

"All of you! Run around the tents 50 times, NOW!" He took out his infamous knotted whip, with knots designed for maximum pain. Everyone groaned and grumbled but dutifully started running around the tents. The horseman even had to dismount, but he was a good soldier and set the pace for the Vaegir men. Lezalit pointed at the two original offenders. "Except you two. Come here, both of you!"

The two men glared at each other, the Vaegir with the bloody nose, the Hired Blade with the bruised knuckles.

"Schwanz!" "Sobaka!" "HAAALLLLTTTT!"

Lezalit's bellow stunned the two into silence. "Strip off your body armor, leave your pants on! I don't want to see your shriveled 'members', now do we?" The two had no choice but to comply.

Then, with their torsos bare, Lezalit whipped first the skirmisher, then the Hired Blade, across the chest, then the back, alternating until they had both been whipped 30 times. It was a brutal ordeal for both of the men, but the muscled body of the Hired Blade took it better than the pale, skinny body of the Vaegir skirmisher. Yet through it all the only sounds were grunts and groans, no shrieks of pain, as they both wanted to show they were fearless. However, the pain was excruciating for the two men, and when the beating was finished they could barely crawl back to Ymira's tent, to be tended by the new girl.

Lezalit was not finished. He had to drill some sense into these no-good barbarians and mercenary thugs.

"Soldiers, FORM UP!"

Exhausted from running 50 times around the camp, the Hired Blades and Vaegir soldiers lined up, but in a slovenly "formation" as they were too tired to care.

"You think this is over? It is NOT over! I will drill you, and drill and drill some more, until you fear me more than the enemy, and certainly more than each other! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?"

"Jawohl, herr Hauptmann!" and "Da Tochno!" rang out from the exhausted men.

"Alright! ATTEN-SHUN!" The men tried to stand stiffly erect. "RIGHT DRESS!" The men tried to line up their right arms so they would deploy into "loose" formation, but it was a mediocre attempt at best, as the men were exhausted.

'By the front, QUICK MARCH! Left, right, left…" The soldiers resigned themselves to a meaningless march around the camp, followed by a meaningless march up the hill, then down the hill, then up the hill…

"glupo! pochemu my dolzhny eto delat'? ! (Stupid! Why do we have to do this?)

Lezalit stormed up to the marching mass. "What did you say?"

"Glupo, ta sobaka!" (Stupid! You dog!)

"I don't understand, but that tone of voice is unacceptable! All Vaegir men fall out! Hired Blades continue marching!"

The Vaegir men left the formation, hence Lezalit whipped each man across the face once. Blood was drawn from quite a few, but no one flinched.

"That, is the price of defiance! An army must have discipline! Then when alles ist in ordnung (all is in order) then we can think of fighting the enemy, you Vaegir pigs!" He tried to whip them some more, but his hand was held from behind. Surprised, Lezalit turned around. He laughed and said:

"New girl, stay out of this! What do you know of war? Go and tend the Vaegir pigs and mercenary thugs!"

"I am not 'new girl': I am Ymira, and I strongly disapprove of your cruel methods! They have been punished enough!"

"I will stop the punishment when it is time!"

"Who knows how long you will make men suffer!"

Suddenly Alayen's voice shouted: "Stop everything!" Everyone stopped and looked as Alayen galloped up as fast as he could on a swaybacked horse.

Alayen opened his mouth and said… (To be con't)


End file.
